Lady Cards fare well in Grayling volley tourney

October 01, 2010

JOHANNESBURG — The Johannesburg-Lewiston volleyball team continued to make strides over the past week, defeating Inland Lakes in Ski Valley Conference action and playing well at the Grayling Tournament last Saturday. In the Grayling tournament, the Cardinals went 2-3-1 on the day against mostly bigger competition. J-L beat host Grayling (21-9, 22-20) and Harrison (21-13, 21-12), split with Kalkaska (22-21, 19-21), while losing to Gaylord (18-21, 20-22), Central Lake (8-21, 14-21) and Kingsley (12-21, 9-21). “I was proud of the fact we had great games against Gaylord in particular and several close game with larger schools than us,” said J-L coach Kristine Peppin. “Playing Class A and B schools is certainly challenging, but it only helps us to improve in the long run.” Sophomore Abby Schlicher was selected by coaches as one of only six players on the all-tournament team. She was both fearsome in hitting and rock-solid on defense, leading the team with 28 kills and adding 16 digs. Also for the Caridnals, Melissa Carroll had 23 kills, Hannah Huff had 13 kills and a team-high nine blocks and 28 digs and Katelyn Weaver had four kills and eight blocks. Allison Burley added 54 assists, while Chelsea Lemcool chipped in 16. Libero Meghan Makranyi added 23 digs, while Burley had 17. The team’s serving was at a blistering 91 percent rate, with Carroll (four aces), Makranyi (three), Huff (two), Burley (two), Brittany Cherwinski (two) and Lemcool (one) all serving at an excellent clip. Last week, J-L (13-12-1 overall) improved to 2-1 in the Ski Valley with a 25-17, 25-21 and 25-23 victory over Inland Lakes. Huff led the way with six kills and nine digs, while Schlicher added four kills and Carroll had three kills and eight digs. Makranyi and Miranda House each had five digs, while Burley led the way with 14 assists. Carroll and House each had four aces, while Makranyi had two and Huff had one. Huff went a perfect 11-for-11 at the serving stripe. “We had a lot of hitting errors and had trouble putting the ball away, but fortunately we were able to connect with enough hits and serves to still win in three,” Peppin said. “In Ski Valley play, we’ll take every win we can get.”